


The Eldritch Hunger

by Cmiller89



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin/Vader is half-human and half-something else, Body Horror, Eldritch, Family Drama, Horror, Insanity, Lovecraftian, Lovecraftian Monster(s), Vore...kinda?, cosmic horror, the skywalkers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:33:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22925701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cmiller89/pseuds/Cmiller89
Summary: (One-shot from my one-shot collection turned into a multi-chapter fic)After the revelation at Bespin, Luke is trying to come to terms with his new reality. However, reality is not what it seems and he finds that his father is both human and something old and terrifying.What does that make Luke?Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Contains body horror, the meaning of reality, and insanity.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker & Han Solo, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Comments: 29
Kudos: 168
Collections: Eldritch Star Wars





	1. The Hunger

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is the exact same one-shot from my one-shot collection. Included is a quote from Lovecraft. 
> 
> If you have read the one-shot, you can safely move to the next chapter.

> ”The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of the infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”
> 
> -H.P. Lovecraft

He was starving.

His appetite had increased exponentially since Bespin, a hunger so strong that he often found himself trying desperately to satiate his desire with provisions and frequent trips to the kitchens. He would eat, alone, in his bunk while everyone was elsewhere, wallowing in the disgust of his cravings and the disdain of the paternal revelation beset upon him by that  _ monster _ . 

_ Monster _

No matter how much nor what he ate, his yearning for  _ more _ was never fulfilled. Oh, he knew why. He had an idea, a primal subconscious lust that permeated his very being when his thoughts dared to wander astray. It was especially keen on exploding forth whenever his mind tried to piece together the truth of his parentage.

Whenever he thought about Vader. 

Luke wasn’t sure why this hunger coincided with finding out Darth Vader was in fact his father. That Anakin Skywalker had become this sinister enforcer for the Empire. 

He also wasn’t sure what he had seen while plummeting into the bowels of Cloud City. He had  _ felt  _ a scream. No, not hear: he  _ felt _ it. It was through the Force, it was through his entire being, it was…

Through reality.

He had looked back up at his fa— _ no no no not true. Not him! It can’t be— _ and saw an enormous black mass with eyes, oh so many eyes,  _ all  _ of them staring at him as he fell. Tendrils, no tentacles, no, no something else. Something that was both, but wasn’t, they reached for him wildly, the eyes flowing down them, through them,  _ everywhere _ . Yes, yes, it was then. It was at that moment he felt a connection to this  _ thing _ that stood above him. This thing he was sure he only glimpsed for a second, but somehow knew it was eternity. 

The creature was terrified. 

At least, that’s the closest emotion he could tie to the onslaught of  _ feelings _ that erupted forth from that creature, crossed space and time, and nailed itself into his soul. 

Through all of it, he saw a brightness pulsating through the shadows of its mass, energy erupting from it and following through its  _ limbs _ . It was terrifying. It was monstrous. It was the embodiment of the very idea of Darth Vader. 

And it was beautiful. 

The last he could recall seeing were chains of blue lightning. They crisscrossed in the front of the creature, holding it back.  _ How _ he could not explain as this beast that just admitted to being his father  _ felt _ like the universe itself. It was truly the Force given form, but yet it was almost as if it was imprisoned. 

A prison of its design. 

Luke stuffed another roll into his mouth as he thought about it. The hunger was increasing as he mused about the events of that day. Every time he dared to venture back, he felt something  _ tapping _ at his mind. As if this insatiable appetite wasn’t just his own, but was somehow connected to whatever was trying to get in. Almost like a great burning fire outside a closed door, the smoke billowing end from the bottom, filling his lungs. 

He  _ knew _ what it was. He knew  _ who _ it was. 

_ Father _ …

That was all it took for the walls of his mind to shatter and the very man- _ no not a man. Some sort of monstrosity- _ that haunted him to engulf his  _ reality _ . Suddenly, he was no longer hiding in his bunk, but surrounded by a pulsating slithering mass, as dark as the night skies on Yavin, but still somehow illuminated by speckles of...of  _ stars _ . 

He was afraid, if he was honest, but at the same time he felt safe. He felt safe, truly  _ safe  _ for the first time in his entire life. He suddenly felt the tendrils of the floor snake up his legs and wrap around his chest, lifting him forward in front of a wall of black and eyes—so many eyes—and he had the urge to shut his own two, but didn’t. It was as if two parts of him were warring: the part that he knew was human—human? Why did he separate himself—and something  _ else.  _

_ “There is no need to shut your eyes” _

The voice was  _ different _ than usual. The modulated baritone that typically accompanied Vader, was both there and not. It was more than just another voice. It was many. It was everywhere. It was  _ inside  _ him. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke could see the chains, could almost hear their clanking, but if he tried to look directly at them they would not be there. 

When he looked forward, he saw the armored form of Darth Vader before him, at least, a form that was obviously being created by the creature, tendrils flowing in and out of his silhouette. 

“Why...how? Is this some kind of sick dark side power? Can-can you just turn yourself into this  _ thing? _ ” Luke noticed the way the form of Vader seemed to flinch at his words. 

“ _ You do not understand the power of the dark side…” _

“Good! If it makes you turn into some disgusting-“

“ _ Enough! _ ” 

Luke was startled out of his tirade and cowered into the mass of tendrils that held him. 

_ “No, please, don’t be afraid,”  _ the voice was softer now. More like just one person instead of everyone. 

“That’s pretty much impossible. You took my hand! Then-then you have the nerve to call yourself my father?”

_ “You know it is true,” _

“I...I…,” Luke tried to hold back the tears, but he was tired of preventing the emotions from escaping. He let it all out and broke down into loud sobs. “I don’t understand. Everything is  _ wrong!  _ You were supposed to be a hero, you were supposed to be a Jedi! You, you weren’t supposed to be  _ this! _ If this is  _ you _ than what the hell am  _ I _ ?!”

Some of the tendrils that enveloped him came undone and rubbed against his back in soothing circles. Suddenly, he felt all his pent up feelings just  _ rush _ out of him and other emotions and thoughts exploded into his mind. They were Vader’s and they were insurmountable! He had never  _ felt _ so strongly like this. It was as if reality had shattered and was pulling back together again, and again, and  _ againagainagain _ .

Then it was gone and Luke gasped. 

“ _ I am sorry, my son. I am not used to someone able to feel what I feel. Know what I know…” _

Still gasping, “Wh-what you know? I don’t understand. I’ve been  _ so  _ hungry and seeing things, hearing things,  _ knowing _ things. I’m so lost,”.

“ _ Not anymore. You are my son, but you are also  _ **_her_ ** _ son _ ,” The entire mass that surrounded him shook at the emphasis of ‘her’. 

“ _ Together we created you and you are perfect,”. _

The tendrils were caressing his face now and Luke found himself leaning into them. It all felt so right. 

“ _ I know what you have gone through and what you go through now. Both luckily and not, you are more human than I. My hunger has been around for as long as I can remember, perhaps all eternity,”.  _ Luke nodded. Yes, that’s how it felt now, but he hadn’t ever experienced it before. To know his father had always felt this way…

_ “The Jedi found me, believed me to be a prophesied being of the Force. A direct creation of it. My power was so great and it terrified them. They were forced to take me in after the original Jedi who had promised to help me with  _ **_this_ ** _ died. They worked tirelessly to mold me into their weapon. I learned how to better conceal my power and control it. I  _ **_had_ ** _ to. But then I found…” _

Luke looked up at the form of Vader and waited. This was different from what Ben had told him. He  _ lied _ . 

“ _ Yes, of course he did. He didn’t want you to become what I am. He must have figured out that if I knew you and you finally knew me. If we were to meet not on solid ground, but in our minds...that you would finally be awake,”.  _

Luke closed his eyes, causing held tears to finally stream down his face. 

“Awake?” He asked and Vader nodded. 

_ “What you saw at Bespin, what you see around you: it is  _ **_me._ ** _ It was hard as a child to learn how to appear human to those around me. My mother was given a great gift from the Force upon birthing me. She could look at me as I am now, as you can. Others can not. Because you were birthed by a human mother, it appears that it is instinctual for you to have your mortal form. But the two parts of you are confused, they fight to decide who will be in control. If you had been with me since birth, I would have helped you to find balance between them. To accept both parts of yourself. It is not one or the other: it is all. It is  _ **_you._ ** ”

Luke found himself almost snuggling into the tendrils that now covered his entire body except his head. His father’s words resonated with him and he tried to accept himself as he is. 

But then the hunger erupted forth and Luke found himself screaming in pain.

_ “Your hunger. My poor child. If you had been with me, your hunger would have been satiated daily and you would have so much more control over what you really are. Do not fret. I have already taken the liberty of gathering some much needed nourishment,”.  _

Luke grimaced from the pain, but then looked up questioningly, but found that the form of Darth Vader was no longer in front of him. Instead, he saw the pulsating light that was encased within the black mass. It was so beautiful, especially now that it was more visible to him. 

“Wait, what do you mean  _ nourishment _ ? I’ve eaten  _ so _ much since Bespin to try and help, but nothing does. I don’t think a feast will stop it,” Luke whined, but his father—surrounding him, holding him, caressing his face, looking at him with a billion eyes, stars, everywhere—chuckled. At least, that’s what Luke would call it. 

“Wha-,” before he could finish black tendrils shot forward, the light from his father’s core following along. He didn’t have time to react to the tendrils plastering to his mouth, opening it up. Luke’s eyes widened and he trembled. 

“ _ Now, now, my son. It is time for you to be fed as you should have. For you to consume what you need to grow big and strong. Then, together, we can defeat the Emperor and rule this reality as has been foretold! It is our destinies!” _

From his father he saw something pushed into the tendrils and make its way towards his waiting mouth. He wanted to deny whatever it was that was about to be forced into his waiting jaws, but yet—he didn’t. He  _ wanted _ whatever it was. He wanted this craving to cease! He wanted…

An eruption of sweet and sticky fluid and the greatest  _ meat _ he ever tasted flowed endlessly into his waiting maw. It was wonderful and somehow  _ right _ . It really was the thing he had wanted for so long and he couldn’t contain his happiness. He sent it out to his father and felt reality shudder back. 

The taste! Oh, he knew what it was! He had tasted something similar before! When he was losing teeth, or bit the inside of his cheek. It was blood. Different than his, yes, but blood and gore and  _ why hadn’t he realized it before? _

Wait. Where was this coming from?

“ _ I saved them for you after Vrogas Vos. I know it has been awhile, but I kept them alive so they would be fresh. Just for you. Master thought I had eaten them myself. He is always so picky about what I consume or rather, how much I do. It was the last time I could manage to take so many into my being and I knew you would be hungry,” _

It was so delicious that Luke’s fleeting guilt at consuming his lost comrades was overshadowed by his gluttony. He wanted more. 

_ “Wait just a moment. This is really only the first course, the second will hit you soon,” _

And it did. Luke moaned into the tendrils as he felt the very souls of the Rebels he had been fed absorb into himself. Their light being snuffed out and becoming  _ his _ . With it came a greater sense of the universe around him, of the Force, of his father, of himself. He was bigger than this mortal body he hid in. He was dwarfed by his father, yes, but he could still feel the corners of reality and the vast amount of living beings stuck in its web. And he was the spider. 

“ _ The Jedi made me meditate and ask the Force for nourishment. They nearly got rid of me when they found I had devoured multiple stray animals that called the Temple grounds home. This is how we are meant to eat, my son! The Emperor helped release me from their trappings and allowed me to be free for the first time!” _

Luke was still being fed, his mouth covered, so he said what he knew needed to be said through their bond. 

“ _ Except you’re not free…” _

The food suddenly stopped and his father’s anger spiked. 

“ **_What?!_ ** _ How  _ **_dare_ ** _ you-“ _

_ “No, father, it’s true! I see them! Don’t you? If I try to focus on them, they disappear, but, but I swear, I see the blue chains of energy that cover you! You traded slavers, father!” _

There was profound sadness that etched into Luke’s mind. 

“ _ I can sense everything you gave up because of his lies. But you’re right, father! I can truly  _ **_see_ ** _ for the first time! I know what you know! That we are  _ **_gods_ ** _ and nothing should chain us down! Let me help you, father!” _

There was a hesitation, a pregnant pause in reality then the flow of food started once more and Luke’s eyes rolled into the back of his head at the flood of beings filling him. 

“ _ Yes, my son. You are so wise. So, full of passion! So much like your mother. I-I promise I’ll tell you about her more. But first: you need to finish your meal,” _

Luke relaxed and allowed his father to finish feeding him. He couldn’t help but think this was his father trying to make up for lost time. He fell asleep there, with his father surrounding him. He thought once he woke, he’d be back in his bunk. That all of this was some sort of dream, one where his mind was trying to work out his identity after learning that Vader is his father. It had to be because he found himself questioning what he had proclaimed to Vader. It was like the primal part of him had taken the wheel and said exactly what he had always wanted. But the rational part of him chastised him now. How dare he consume the viscera of his fallen comrades. To lap their souls up proudly. To feel so much ecstasy at being part  _ monster _ .

It would have been easy for it to have all been a metaphor, a dream, anything else. But when his eyes opened from a restful sleep, he found himself laying on his side on the mass of tentacles, listening to the otherworldly heartbeat of his giant father. For a moment, that rational part of him, that  _ human _ part of him cried out and hurriedly told him how wrong it all was. How he had to run, go somewhere, hide. But then that voice was silenced and  _ absorbed _ by the  _ real _ him. 

He felt his father’s attention—he was always there, always watching, always waiting—increase and focus more on him. 

He lazily lifted his head and opened his mouth wider than he could before. His sharp, jagged, carnivorous teeth parted and a long tongue slithered out. From behind it came multiple tendrils, not unlike his father’s, and they all reached up towards those eyes and the pulsating glow,  _ begging _ for  _ more.  _

_ “I  _ **_knew_ ** _ you would be hungry, little one, but never thought you were  _ **_this_ ** _ malnourished,”. _

HIs father’s giant tendrils rushed forward and merged with his and Luke watched in anticipation of more souls to chew on. 

Soon he would be stronger and able to peel away this mortal form and help his father remove his chains.

They would kill the Emperor. The man that had tricked his father. That had lied about saving his mother. They would find the last of the Jedi and happily munch upon them, going slow so they could feel a semblance of the pain they gave his father. 

They would truly be free-together. 

And be gods. 


	2. Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to make this longer, but decided to stop where I did.

> “I have seen the dark universe yawning  
>  Where the black planets roll without aim,  
>  Where they roll in their horror unheeded,  
>  Without knowledge, or lustre, or name.”
> 
> -H.P. Lovecraft

Luke had no concept of how long he had laid in his father’s mass. It felt like time simply didn’t exist here and, admittedly, he didn’t think about it much when being fed. 

But now he was digesting, laying on his side so his bloated stomach could rest on the floor, and the break was allowing his rational mind to take hold once more. 

He hated it. 

He was a  **god** , he was greater than these beings that now screamed within his belly;  _ this _ is what he  _ needs _ ! He could  _ really  _ help his friends with his growing power!

His friends…

Flashes of Leia, the droids, Wedge-his team- and Han. 

_ Han.. _

Han who was still screaming in carbonite. The friend he wanted to rescue.

_ What was he doing? _

His thoughts were interrupted by the shifting of his father’s tendrils beneath him. They shot outward then came together, the form of Darth Vader emerging from the slithering dark. 

“You are...upset?”

Luke closed his eyes then shook his head. 

“I just need...I need to go back! I need to help my fri-“

The air seemed to grow thick and cold and Luke couldn’t help but shiver. 

“Friends?! They are  _ nothing _ ! They do not deserve you nor your power! You belong here! Belong to  _ me!” _

“What?! No! You can’t just keep me  _ here!  _ They are counting on me! They…” Luke suddenly saw the sea of faces he had been fed by his father. He shuddered and tried to hug himself. “And you  _ fed _ them to me…”

“You weren’t upset then,”

“You’re right. I wasn’t. I don’t know what’s happening or how this bond between us works. All I know is that  _ here _ : I can’t think straight!”

“No,” the crude creation of the tendrils came closer, “You are merely thinking clearly for the  _ first  _ time!”

“No!” Luke clumsily stood up but fell back into his father’s embrace, the tendrils wrapping around him. 

“ _ Please _ ! Father, let me go!”

“Never,”. 

His father tightened his grip and Luke felt the instinctual need to open his mouth to meet the descending tendrils; gluttonous eagerness swelling from an unspeakable part of his soul. 

_ ‘No,no,no! I can’t! I need to go back!’ _

A strange sensation overcame him as a deep fright, some forgotten knowledge escaping the cells that made his form, surged outward and it felt like he was being  _ consumed.  _ No, more like absorbed. It seemed to be more a threat than a reality: a selfish glimpse of another possibility to satiate his father’s possessiveness. But that route…

He would no longer be Luke, but something _ else. _

_ ‘I need to GO’ _

Luke gasped as his eyes shot open. He was no longer being hugged by a mass of inky tentacles and instead sitting up in his bunk back at base. He blinked a few times as he adjusted to the luminance that barely covered the small room and found himself  _ almost _ recoiling from the brilliance. It felt like centuries since he had been in such illumination and it  _ hurt, it hurt, I need to go back. I’m safe there- _

“Commander!” Luke snapped his head towards the door to find Wedge studying him with a bit of concern. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you! We have a debriefing for the mission tonight. Higher ups decided to change it last minute. I would have told you sooner, but you weren’t in the mess hall,”. 

Luke must have looked confused because Antilles slowly made his way over to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. 

“Luke, buddy, are you feeling alright?” He flinched at the touch and, upon taking in his friend’s hurt face, immediately felt a boiling grief. 

_ “You weren’t upset before,” _

“I-I’m sorry Wedge. Just, uh, took a nap and still waking up, I guess. Bad dreams and all that,” Luke tried to sound sincere, but it didn’t take the Force to know that Antilles wasn’t convinced. The placate did it’s job at the very least and, with a nod and a dampened “until later”, Wedge was gone. 

Luke grasped his head in his hands and tried to reel in the tears threatening to cascade down his cheeks. This was all so very strange and just plain difficult to wrap his head around. Sure, he  _ was _ perfectly fine when in that...that  _ other _ reality-or where ever he had been. And he really had been somewhere else. It was most certainly not a dream and felt like the work of The Force, just... _ different _ somehow. Primal even.

He got up from his position on the cot and made for the shared fresher. He desperately wanted a shower and not because he felt physically dirty, but he did feel like his very being was icky and dripping of some sort of residue from the tendrils that had held him so ( _ lovingly _ ) tightly. He wanted it gone. 

It wasn’t until after his shower, however, that he noticed another divergence from the  _ where  _ he had been: his body hadn’t kept the same physical changes he had experienced  _ there.  _ He looked healthier, that much was certain, but he no longer sported a swollen stomach and his tendrils were nowhere to be seen(and luckily didn’t magically appear from thinking about them). He didn’t want to even  _ try  _ to pull them forth because, in some small way, their absence was enough to console him into believing it hadn’t  _ really  _ been  _ him _ that happily lapped up his father’s offering of Rebels. 

Because he knew he could never be happy with eating- _ they were sooo good. So delicious, the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Father can get us more! That was such a nice thing for him to do: saving them just for me! He even kept them alive with his own nutrients just so you could have them! How selfish you are to leave him. Spoiled boy! _

“SHUT UP!” 

The mirror he had been checking himself with shattered, along with other various structures, lights, faucets: practically the entire ‘fresher. 

He gulped at the thought of having to explain this to the other guys, but that slight anxiety was still very much overshadowed by that other voice in his head. It was  _ him _ , though, his  _ real  _ thoughts. The ones that his rationality would have otherwise squashed before that inner voice could even register.

What did that mean for him? 

‘ _ You are merely thinking clearly for the  _ **_first_ ** _ time!’ _

No. Not clearly. That  _ can’t  _ be it, because if that is true then…

He had always been a monster. 

————————————————

His squad seemed happy to see him arrive in the mess hall and Wedge patted the seat next to him after Luke had begrudgingly filled a tray with food. 

‘ _ Gotta appear normal. Everything is great, I’m fine. I’m even going to eat  _ **_regular_ ** _ food just like these mort-’  _ he quickly shut down that thought and took his place next to Wedge, the weight of his tray causing a distinct  _ thud _ as he placed it on the table. 

The crew around him glanced at each other then to Wedge, who caught-on and turned towards Luke, ready to break the tension. “Commander! Glad to see your appetite is still going strong! I was a little concerned you were coming down with something after seeing you before!” He chuckled and the rest of the table followed suit. Only Luke remained silent, taking in the large amount of food on his tray. He hadn’t realized he had taken so much, chalking it up to muscle memory or something like that, from being so damn  _ hungry _ for so long prior to—. However...instead of his usual spread of various food stuffs, now his tray was piled with protein. Meat, just meat. He eyed the rest of the team behind his lashes and could tell their chuckles were forced. He didn’t need any power to read the thoughts their eyes were conveying. 

He couldn’t just  _ leave _ his plate like this without eating  _ something _ , so he quietly chipped away at the protein. The meal continued as it normally would otherwise, with his squad discussing everything from battle tactics to comic relief to gossip about who was secretly with who and so on. Luke didn’t join in. 

Instead, his thoughts were consumed with questions he hadn’t had the wherewithal to consider before returning to his  _ normal _ . Chief among them was how could his father be such a powerful, god-like being, and yet be controlled, no,  _ enslaved _ by the Emperor. Luke remembered that he actually saw some sort of strange representation of chains entwined in the horrible, but beautiful true(or the closest to it he supposed)form of his father.  _ How  _ was it that his father seemed to not have noticed them until his son pointed them out? And why would he be trapped in that suit here-in this reality-and yet also use that same form in the  _ other  _ place? 

There was something much,  _ much _ bigger going on here. Something he was sure his father either had willfully decided not to consider or simply didn’t  _ believe _ he could do anything about.

What had the Emperor really done to his father? 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Intermission: Obi-Wan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obi-wan ruminates on the birth of Anakin's children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter involves the death of Padme-both from a broken heart and giving birth to horrors. The gruesomeness of which is laid out. 
> 
> The first part of this references two Lovecraftian works: HP Lovecraft’s “The Color Out of Space” and the movie “The Endless”(though that only through a wink with a word)
> 
> I haven't forgotten about my fics! It was pretty rough for us during the early months of the pandemic and we ultimately moved to another state for a better job prospect for my husband. I'm finally settled in enough to feel some inspiration.  
> This chapter is a sort of warm-up for me to dive back into this horror AU and probably a shorter chapter than most. I'm currently working on an outline for the next chapter that takes us back to where Luke is at.  
> The end of this chapter is a pseudo-cliffhanger as it ominously teases the next chapter!

> "I'll tell you something of the forbidden horrors she led me into - something of the age-old horrors that even now are festering in out-of-the-way corners with a few monstrous priests to keep them alive. Some people know things about the universe that nobody ought to know, and can do things that nobody ought to be able to do."  
> -H.P. Lovecraft. "The Dunwich Horror"

It was upsetting that he could so vividly remember the births of Anakin’s children. It wasn’t just that they had to be born after the fall of the Republic, it wasn’t that Anakin was incapable of being there to witness it(his screams, human yet etched with the roar of something so very not), it wasn’t the ceaseless calling for her husband, each of which stabbed at his heart, nor was it the strangeness of a silent room after Padme had released her last tired breath. No, it was seeing what the son and daughter of a being like Anakin looked like when they were pulled from Padme’s womb.

  
A dazzling color that Obi-wan couldn’t quite pinpoint had briefly blinded him and only the intensifying screams of the Senator kept him from falling into its endlessness. As his vision steadied, the light came together into tendrils that flowed from Padme, a muddled sense of fear for this strange new world these beings found themselves in. He should have expected some sort of considerable mass especially now that he briefly recalled how Padme’s already swollen, pregnant stomach had seemed to steadily increase in size until she came to and was capable of birth. The droids made some indistinct chatter(something about biological incompatibility) but still went to work, pulling the withering mass of light from their mother’s body even while parts of them were being torn off by the whipping of the tendrils, the children’s’ fear becoming palpable. Obi-wan didn’t think about it until much later when he sat in his hovel polishing his lightsaber for the 100th time if Padme would have survived in any other circumstance. Something told him that if Anakin had been there then maybe his own power and connection to whatever it was that he and his children are may have been enough to hold Padme together-maybe enough to quell the insecure mental wail of inhuman children.  
  
But he wasn’t there and Obi-wan had glimpsed what remained of Padme’s lower half, tearing his eyes away and forcing down a rise of bile. He looked instead to her face and grabbed her hand, muttering foolishness about how she’ll be fine, the children will be fine, they’ll all be fine.

  
She only asked about her babies.

Her other hand reached towards the light being held by the droid and, at that moment, it parted into two separate glows.

  
Her eyes stared unblinkingly.

  
As if willed by their mother’s love, one that cared not for nor feared their horrifying yet beautiful forms, their tendrils coiled back into them and the light slowly dimmed until it was no more and instead, two human children laid held in the arms of the torn-up droid. Obi-wan quickly grabbed the babe in an arm that looked ready to fall off(which it did right after) and he brought the child-a boy-to his mother’s side. She turned her head towards her son(her eyes were white, blind from looking upon her children he had surmised) and as if she could still see him, her hand found his face, and her fingers caressed his cheek. “My Luke,” she muttered. The droid puttered to her other side and she turned to face her daughter, but all her strength seemed to have been used in that one simple motion and she could only mutter, “Leia” before her body began to convulse. The droid moved back at that, an alarm sounding from it, and Obi-wan hastily moved to that side of her. She still found his eyes and hastily said, “Anakin...there’s still good in him. I know there is…”.  
And with that impossible statement, the former Queen, Senator, wife, and mother died.  
\-------------------------------------------  
“What was that?”

Obi-wan had expected a more vehement demand from Bail Organa, long-time friend, and confidant of the now-deceased Padme Amidala, but it was said with such relatable tiredness. He, Organa, and Yoda stood in a small room after the babies were secure and being cleaned by the droids. Yoda had come at that time, looking over them, nodding then pulling the Jedi and the Senator into this room to talk.  
“The babes, Anakin’s children they are,” Yoda muttered, but that seemed not to quell Bail.  
“That isn’t too hard to understand, Master Jedi, but I want to know why I saw what I saw!”  
“Understandable your feelings are. Understandable your fear. Both of you,” Yoda glanced up at Obi-wan and before he could retort, continued, “Warned us of him, Qui-Gon did. Yes, the Council, knew we have what Skywalker could be. Destroyed now by our hubris, both by Skywalker and Sidious,”.  
Obi-wan perked up at that. “You think Palpatine knew all along that Anakin was...different?”  
Yoda nodded. “A Sith he is. Monstrous the Dark Side can be. Knowledgeable about what Anakin is, I-I am not,”. He bowed his head at that omission as if he felt great shame for not helping the young Knight.  
“So...are they monsters too?” Bail finally breached the Bantha in the room, but Yoda shook his head in disagreement. “No, monsters they are not, but monsters they could be. Their mother’s love, her desire, answered they did. Human, they are now,”. Yoda hit the floor with his staff in finality.  
“Master, forgive me, but I was actually in that room. I-I felt like I was almost lost in there and-” “But lost you are not, hmm? The children, human they are now and the hands of Palpatine they must never enter! Certain things we should do to make sure humans they stay. Separate we must.”  
Obi-wan thought on his words and began nodding in agreement. “I’m sorry, Master. They are children and, yes, we have to figure out something, anything that may keep them from-from”  
 _Those screams emanating from his fallen brother felt like they were physically assaulting him. He bent down and picked up Anakin’s saber and briefly looked back at him only to quickly turn away. He had expected a limbless(save one of metal) burning man, but instead, he saw a wriggling, terrifying mass and reality around it shuttering. He had run then, hoping that it was tired, battered mind that invoked such terrible imagery, and picked up the limp body of Padme as he heads for the ship. He never dared to turn back in the direction of the ever-growing and less human screams. And he told himself when he still could hear it after the ship had broken the atmosphere, that it had to also be his imagination_  
“From turning into whatever Anakin is and whatever I saw in that room,”.  
Bail seemed to have come to some sort of conclusion and stepped forward.  
“I’ll take the girl. My wife and I always wanted a girl,”. Yoda nodded then turned to Obi-wan. “I’ll take the boy. I believe Anakin has family back on Tattoine,”.  
“Yes, raise without training, for now, they both should be. Do not know if they will regress if trained. Wait for now we must. Hide them from Sidious we must...and their father,”  
“What? Anakin? He survived how do you?”  
“Search your feelings you must old friend. Survived Vader did, how much, I am not certain”  
Obi-wan nodded even though the idea of “how much” made him queasy.  
“It’s settled then,”.

___________________________________

It was much easier now that he had become one with the Force for Obi-wan to think more clearly about the life of his former Padawan and the birth of his children. During his self imposed exile in that damn hovel at the outskirts of the Lars homestead, he was too busy with grief and his brain too exhausted after days spent in hindsight to dare to think about what he saw on that riverbank, the suit Darth Vader was now confined to, nor the possibility that should have always been at the forefront of his mind of his children losing their humanity.  
Yet, here he was now (not visible as he still was wondering what good it would do to show himself to Luke again) feeling that bile rising regardless of his incorporeal form, at Luke devouring the poor young man that walked in on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love prompts, especially for both this AU and the AU from my popular one-shot collection(which will be put into a multi-chapter fic soon! You can PM on Discord to discuss any of my work and plot bunnies you may like to see: MamaShenanigans#9608

**Author's Note:**

> I love prompts, especially for both this AU and the AU from my popular one-shot collection(which will be put into a multi-chapter fic soon! You can PM on Discord to discuss any of my work and plot bunnies you may like to see: MamaShenanigans#9608


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